


In the End

by kaijusizefeels



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: 3AM feels, Chuck builds models, Chuck dies but he will live again, Gen, Hansens are WWII history buffs, My muse is fueled by anger and tears, Writing is so hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijusizefeels/pseuds/kaijusizefeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one is ever prepared to die, not even Chuck Hansen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the End

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I HATE, HATE, HATE the last 30 minutes of the film. But FEELS fuel the muse and for some reason, this thing tumbled out at 3AM. Sorry, I'm not a good writer.
> 
> Also, it's totally my headcanon now that Chuck builds and collects model kits (like Cmdr. Shepard ;) Herc encouraged the habit because he thought it would help to keep Chuck out of trouble.

It happened _only_ once before, so maybe Herc threatened someone or something. But it had happened once, that a reporter asked him during an interview if he was prepared to die in the line of duty.

Chuck bristled then. Of course he was prepared to die inside his jaegar. Did they took him for some kind of coward, or worse, a child? Chuck had graduated in the top 1% at the academy, he was raised inside the shatterdomes, a ranger through and through. Of course he was prepared to give his life in the line of duty; that's what being a ranger, being a soldier is about. Civilians wouldn't be able to understand.

**Now:**

Marshal Pentecost gave him a few moments to settle himself before heading off to suit up. Operations Pitfall, a mere moment away. He didn't say it, no one said it, but it's there nevertheless. Two jaegars left and an unprecedented triple breaching event, it's a damned suicide mission.

Chuck looks down at the book in his hand, one of the few fictions he's kept throughout the years. Funny, he's always told himself that he'd finish reading it one day except he's never made it past chapter 3 yet. Instead, he keeps a stack of postcards in it, fan mails from back in early days because he thought the pictures on them looked cool, a bunch of places that he'd like to visit one day.

 

He says goodbye to Herc and Max with red rimmed eyes in that narrow grey corridor.

 

The inside of Pentecost's mind is entirely emptiness. Like he said, he carries nothing with him into the drift, no memories, no emotions, no baggages.

Chuck has never appreciated the ease with which he syncs with Herc until now. The warm space that his dad apparently always managed to reserve for him in the drift. Drifting with the Marshal...

Chuck shivers and feels very much alone and very, very small.

But Pentecost is a great pilot still. Their – Striker Eureka – movement is smooth and controlled, reflexes lighting fast and sharp.

But it isn’t enough, they can’t grapple and punch hard enough to overcome two kaijus, one a never before seen Category 5. Mako and Raleigh – Gypsy Danger – is already far too damaged to help.

“What can we do, sir?” Chuck asks and Stacker gives him the dreadful answer, the one in a billion chance that they can still scrap by with a victory.

“We can clear a path,” he shouts at him, “for the lady”.

Chuck is already inputting the arming sequence, well practiced from all the drills, though honestly Chuck had envisioned that he would be going through the same motion in a triumphant Striker while sharing a wide grin with Herc.

_His dad._ Chuck wants to say something to the old man through the comm just as Pentecost is saying something to Mako, but his mind is strangely empty and he can’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make him sound like a scared little boy in front of everyone.

Pentecost is inputting his own sequence now. _30 seconds_. Chuck waits.

_25 seconds_.

“It’s been an honor,sir.”

_5_

 

Chuck puts down the book and looks around the room he shares with Herc. He thinks that maybe he should tidy up a bit before he leaves, at least put away the pieces still scattered on the work table. He might still be able to finish it, an old WWII battleship model kit that Herc bought him for his last birthday.

Herc always grumbled about all the tiny pieces, the spots of spattered paints, misplaced tools that end up in the oddest places. But Chuck knows that Herc has all of his finished models in storage somewhere, even the really early ones like that fighter plane where Chuck glued the wings on backward.

 

_3_

 

Are you prepared to die in the line of duty? Bizarrely Chuck recalls that question again and this time he realizes that he finally knows the answer.

_You idiot! Of course_ –

They press the trigger button in sync.

_– not._


End file.
